Scotia on Cheltenham.

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

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> I doubt if Kauto Star will actually run


should never have run

Smith leaning towards retirement for Kauto Star
 
BY LEWIS PORTEOUS 5:34PM 16 MAR 2012
 
CLIVE SMITH, owner of horse of a lifetime Kauto Star, said it was 90per cent certain that the dual Gold Cup winner had run his last race after he was pulled up in this year's race on Friday.


Generally recognised as the greatest chaser since the mighty Arkle, Kauto Star got no further than the ninth fence before regular rider Ruby Walsh decided to call it a day.
Although champion trainer Paul Nicholls said a decision on the horse's future would not be taken in the immediate aftermath, Smith thought his pride and joy had earned his retirement.

He said: "There will be no snap decision but I am 90 per cent sure. I will take advice but someone will have to work very hard to persuade me that we should see him out again because what I wouldn't want to happen is have a Best Mate situation or a Dawn Run, I don't want anything like that, I'd just rather call it a day, maybe.

"We will see how we go and we will talk about it. It is a very sad occasion really because it will be the last time probably we will see him on the track. I feel a bit emotional now about it."


An emotional day for Clive Smith

 
PICTURE: Mark Cranham
 
After suffering a "horrible fall" in a schooling accident in the build up to Friday's race, the 12-year-old had been just 50-50 to make the race. But after making significant improvement and coming through a racecourse gallop and schooling session unscathed, connections allowed him to bid for a third win in the race.

However, both Nicholls and Smith felt he was still feeling the effects of that schooling accident and Walsh said he was left with only one option.

He said: "I was thinking about pulling up when AP [McCoy] said 'if I were you I'd be pulling up'. It would have been a hell of a lot worse if I'd turned him over and he'd broken his neck."

As well as his two Gold Cup wins, Kauto Star boasts five King George victories and four Betfair Chases among his 23-career wins to date.

Gold Cup Replay

Scotia, now that Cheltenham is over, you can't reschedule your op to now. We need you for the Joburg season, then after that Durban, then the Arc, then......

Hope its not serious

Planning to make the Joburg season, will give u a shout Txs

Synchronised must represent one of the most unlikely winners of a Cheltenham Gold Cup in the history of NH.

The first thing I learned about jumping is pretty obvious ; Bad jumpers don't win races let alone the Gold Cup.

I studied this horse's journey around the 5300m of the Gold Cup and it represents an almost textbook example of a runner likely to do one of the following ;

Fall or drop out or be pulled up or trail in at the back of the field.

When riders are applauded for 'riding great races' it is often more because they made no mistakes and simply gave their mounts every chance. In this instance one either has to applaud Tony Mccoy for an outstanding ride or question his stubborn determination to keep an apparently unwilling mount about its business.

On numerous occasions I spotted Mccoy 'bumping' the horse along. With few exceptions he botched or plowed through the majority of the obstacles. Certainly he lost a length or two at almost every fence and then had to be cajoled along to close up again. I got the impression at the last that McCoy simply charged the jump at full speed in an effort to close the gap or end up on the turf. I shall not quickly forget the sight of the horse's body going in one direction and his neck and head in another.

Repeated viewings of the closing phases also suggest that the leaders simply ran out of puff between the last jump and the line.

Whatever the reasons - the result is in the frame. And Tony McCoy is possibly the only jockey I could envisage achieving such a remarkable win.

Sprinter Sacre

Last fence Gold Cup

Big Bucks

Wonderful pics and great champs

Kauto Star retirement talk is 'very premature'
 
BY LEWIS PORTEOUS 5:54PM 19 MAR 2012
 
CHAMPION trainer Paul Nicholls on Monday said any talk of retirement for legendary chaser Kauto Star was "very premature" and he does not expect to contemplate the horse's future until he returns from his summer break.

O'Neill keen on National bid with Synchronised
 
BY LEWIS PORTEOUS 6:06PM 20 MAR 2012
 
THE PROSPECT of Synchronised becoming just the second horse in history to land the John Smith's Grand National and the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season remains a distinct possibility, after trainer Jonjo O'Neill said on Tuesday that he saw "no reason" not to run in the Aintree marathon on April 14.